"Tippy… I'm so sorry! I couldn't beat Chopper and his friend! They… They were just too strong for me!" Mimi wheezed, standing right on Tipral's platform once again, which started to get on his nerves. But, once again, he decided to let her stay on it, even if it meant to keep her from getting in a fuss.
"I saw this coming," Tipral replied, pulling the Dark Prognosticus out. "I'm pretty sure he's taken you down in your spider form before, has he not? I'm almost certain that he has…"
"Do I have to do anything in return?" Mimi asked.
"Find out what you did wrong and come back here when you're ready, Mimi," Tipral closed the Dark Prognosticus and looked at her. "But you're going to have to give me an idea of a trap for next time on Chopper. If you fail to… Well, there are going to be some consequences for that."
"Oh, thank you Tippy!" Mimi exclaimed. "I will give you the BEST trap that you'll ever see! Trust me!"
She gave one last giggle before she teleported out of the room. Tipral thought he'd have time to himself, but that was when he heard a shout from another one of his minions.
"Tipral!" O'Chunks came falling down from the ceiling. "I beg yeh, gimme the honor o' whalin' on this pack o' nambly-pamblies! I swear of me whiskers that I'll spank 'em like naughty little Cherbils, I will!"
"So, you think you're all ready to go then? I suppose you've finished lifting all of those weights on your training, right?"
"Eah… Y'see… I…just got a wee bit left. I'm takin' a break 'ere. Me trainin' does take time, Tipral! Liftin' 1,000 weights fer yeh is a bit tough fer the likes of me!"
"Ugh… Well, what did I miss?" Dark asked while making his appearance through his cape.
"Hmmmmmm… Actually, you're one of the people I've been looking for, Dark…" Tipral remarked. "You see… I think now's the time for you to go out and stop those heroes once and for all!"
"Hmmmm? I'm up already?" Dark raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect to be going up so soon… But, I'll do it…right after I find some more people in this castle that are still not loyal to you. I gotta work on that first, y'know."
"Yes, yes… I understand. If you can't make it then, I might as well send… Dimentio! Come to me!"
Dimentio made his appearance through his magic. "And so I arrive, like a sudden windstorm at a kindergarten picnic!"
"…What the HECK did you just say?" Tipral gawked. "Well, that's not what's important. I'm pretty sure you would like to face Chopper, do you not?"
"The heroes, you say? Oh, yes! I will do as you say, Tipral. Besides, I was always wondering how much of a challenge Chopper would be… Perhaps now I'll get to enjoy a fight! Now, if there is nothing else, I'll just be on my way. Ciao, Tipral."
At that moment, Dimentio disappeared from their sight. "Well, I guess I better go. I'll dispatch of Chopper as soon as I finish up with the people in the castle." Dark left the room with his cape.
"I guess I better be goin' now," O'Chunks jumped off the platform and made his way back to his room.
Tipral, on the other hand, looked up. "Hmph… So, you honestly think that you're going to stop me, Chopper? Even with Kirby on your side, your efforts to stop me will be in vain! You have no chance if winning now!"
He immediately teleported out of the room, leaving the room empty.
Outside of the castle-
"Ugh… What happened?" a certain blue hedgehog quickly got himself up. He looked around the room for anyone, but all he could see was the darkness up in the sky and the black floor he was standing on.
"Whoa… This is weird. First I'm in a castle located on Chopper's planet, then I'm at some kind of kingdom…and NOW I'm out in this darkness? What the heck's going on here?!"
"You awake, Blue?" a Goomba called out. A Motobug was right beside him as well.
"Yeah… Hey there, bad guys. What's going on here?" Sonic questioned.
"Yeah, we're doing OK," the Goomba replied. "But, at least you're here! Good to see that you made it! Figured he was done… Dude is tougher than he looks."
"So, yeah… This is a strange question to ask, but have you seen Kirby, Blade or even the Mario Bros.?"
"Nope. We didn't see any of 'em." the Motobug replied. "You're the only one we found. Let's hope they're OK. Get a load of this moron! Who cares about his friends!"
"Near as we can figure, most of the other minions got captured or something," the Goomba stated. "And we're probably next! Why is this hedgehog so calm?! We're behind enemy lines!"
"Soooo… Sonic, old buddy!" the Motobug jumped up a little. "What do you think about getting us out of this evil place? We're thinking you open the path for us…and we all bail. Whatcha think?"
Sonic shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't do that. I mean, leave all of my friends behind? I couldn't do anything like that! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! I made a promise that I wouldn't leave anyone behind."
"Man…wow," the Goomba gaped. "Apparently I DID expect you to say something like that. Aren't you the defender of the helpless? No one else can help us! We beg of you for your help!"
"…Fine. I'll help you guys." Sonic sighed. "I personally DON'T like to help out the enemies, but since you guys are trying to get away from Tipral's grasps, then we have to work together."
"Oh, you are the BEST! Man, that was waaaaaay too easy. What a sucker!"
"We'll be right behind you!" The Motobug stated. "But once things get rough, we BAIL!"
"This way, then!" Sonic made a dash over to the door to their left. He wasn't getting tired of running, that's for sure…
They came across some stairs in the next room, which led to the inside of Castle Tipral. The Goomba and Motobug followed Sonic down the stairs to the door up ahead, leading into a smaller room with a door nearby.
"Hmmmmm… That door is VERY easy to see…" Sonic walked into the door ahead, leading into a larger and longer room.
"Well, I'm gonna have to go a bit faster here," Sonic's feet began to turn to a wheel as he ran all the way to the left until the Goomba and Motobug stopped him.
"Sonic! Wait up!" the Goomba and Motobug finally made their way to Sonic, who didn't even look exhausted.
"Oh, crud… Don't tell me we're at a dead end!" the Goomba gaped as he saw a wall nearby. "It looks like the end of the line here"
"Oh, man… You're right about that!" Sonic gaped. "Now what're we supposed to do?"
"We should look for another way out," the Motobug suggested. "This hedgehog's useless. If we stay here, we'll definitely be spotted by—GAZOOOORT!"
The Motobug felt some purple energy zap him. "HAIL TIPRAL!"
"Uh oh…" Sonic gulped.
"MOTOBUG-WITH-NO-NAME! NO!" the Goomba cried.
"Well, well, well! Look what we have here!" Dark grinned as he walked over to Sonic. "I never expected YOU to be around here, Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"Dark? What the… I thought you were in prison!" Sonic got in a fighting stance.
"I was…until I was taken out of there by Tipral! Heh heh heh! And thanks to him, I can brainwash anyone that I want to…such as yourself!"
"There's no way I'm going to give in to the likes of you! Not even your army could take me on!" Sonic looked at the army of Motobugs, Buzz Bombers, Hammer Bros. and even Goombas.
"Oh, man… Poor Motobug-with-no-name…" the Goomba mourned. "All right! I think it's time for me to Goomba-up!
The Goomba walked up to Dark. "Hey, dark dude! You got any room for one more?"
"Wait, what are you DOING?!" Sonic exclaimed.
"What do you think it looks like I'm doing, genius?! I'm joining the winning side!"
"Hmmmm… Well, I guess you made a good choice, Goomba. You can join us…only if you swear your loyalty to Tipral!"
"Hey, count me in, dark dude! HERE WE GO, TIPRAL, HERE WE GO! LOVE THAT EVIL GUY!"
"You… You dirty traitor!" Sonic scowled.
"All right, now that that's taken care of… You guys hold Sonic down! I'm going to brainwash him now! Then we'll have a super-fast hedgehog on our side!" Dark grinned.
"YES, SIR!"
All of the minions grabbed Sonic's arms and legs.
"Grrrrr! You're… You're not going to get away with this!" Sonic growled.
"Oh, but I am!" Dark was about to zap Sonic…until a box appeared around the blue hedgehog and teleported him out.
"WHAT?! How?! How did he disappear like that?!" Dark face palmed. "Bah! Fine! Looks like another one got away this time… I might as well take it all out on Chopper and his friend…"
Dark wrapped himself around with his cape and he was gone before you knew it.
Lineland Road-
"Hmmmmmm… I haven't seen my sword anywhere." Meta Knight was flying over the whole place instead of traveling on foot like Chopper did. All he could see were Squiglets and even a castle off at the distance. He noticed a red door up on the top of the castle, but where did it lead to?
"I'm not going to bother looking through that castle. There's no way it would be somewhere around there." Meta Knight shook his head as he flew up to the top of the castle.
After landing, he saw how high he was. He was pretty close to the clouds, to his surprise.
"If Chopper said he roamed through these parts, then I'm sure he's responsible for revealing this door. But for some reason… I feel like there was something up here as well…"
Meta Knight noticed a Drackle laying on the ground. It got up and tried to attack, but Meta Knight managed to knock it back with a simple kick.
"If only I had my sword, I could slice this thing in half. Sadly, that's not the case. Not even a Flip Wizard and an old man named 'Yerfeys' was able to help me with my search for Galaxia…"
Without hesitation, Meta Knight made his way into a chamber. He noticed the footsteps on the ground that reminded him of Chopper.
"So… Chopper HAS walked through these parts. But, the thing is… Why is there a block at the end of this chamber?" Meta Knight walked over to the Star Block until he was interrupted by a calm voice.
"Welcome, hero…" Merlumina once again, appeared before Meta Knight's very eyes, but her expression changed as soon as she floated to the ground. "Wait… You're not the hero that I was speaking to… In fact, you're not one of the heroes from the Light Prognosticus, if I could recall…"
"Light Prognosticus? What is that?" Meta Knight questioned. "All I came here is to look for my sacred sword, Galaxia. It is a weapon that I've been caring ever since I first got it."
"Galaxia? Unfortunately, I know no such thing. I haven't seen a sword make its appearance here. But I can explain to you about the Light Prognosticus. It started 1,500 years ago, when I was a beautiful young women… I can remember the time with those…and then he said…and I said…"
"In all honesty… I don't have time to be listening to this. I really need to get going if I can't find my sword. I'm sure Chopper or Merlon could explain all the details to me."
"…Very well, then. If you wish to return here, I'll be waiting for you." Merlumina sighed as she slowly began to disappear.
"Hold on a moment… I think that that old man wanted me to give you something…"
"So… Have we decided on a name for this being?"
"Hmmmmm… I was thinking along the lines of 'Dark' or even 'Shadow'. Those sound like fitting names!"
"No, no! Those names are just too…common! We can't be unoriginal when we're thinking of a name for this being. His mother wouldn't be pleased with the name anyway!"
"Yeah… That's understandable. We need a name that can be interesting…yet unique at the same time."
"We should save the name 'Shadow' for someone else."
"Hmmmmmmmmm… I think I've got the name!"
"What are we naming him?"
"We shall call him…Tipral."
Flipside Tower-
Chopper and Kirby made their way out of the orange door, where they saw an orange crystal heart appear above the door.
"Poyo! (Hey, that kind of reminds me of the Crystal Star for some reason!)" Kirby gawked while pointing to the heart.
"Oh ho, welcome back, friends!" Merlon greeted. "How was your journey this time? Did you find Merlee and obtain the Pure Heart?"
"Yeah, we did it, that's for sure," Chopper nodded.
"Merlee said that we would need the power of four heroes to stop the Chaos Heart…but then she said we need the power of six heroes to stop pure chaos…" Tippi informed. "But I don't know what that means…"
"Oh ho, is that so?" Merlee questioned. "There is more than one hero? Well, if Chopper and Kirby are two such heroes, then you still need two or four more…"
"Yeah, I wonder who…" Chopper's words were interrupted by the violent shaking coming from the sky. "What's going on?!"
"Look, over there…" Tippi glanced up at the sky, where The Void began to grow a bit larger.
"Poyo? (What's that up in the sky? )" Kirby questioned.
"That is The Void," Merlon informed. "And it has grown…"
After the shaking stopped, Chopper and Kirby took deep breaths.
"Hmmm… I fear that our time grows short, dear friends… I will return to the Light Prognosticus. You young ones seek the next Heart Pillar."
Merlon made his way to the elevator until he remembered something. "But first… Allow me to tell of something that mystical book has already divulged to me."
"Oh, boy… Another one of these…" Chopper thought while groaning inside of his head.
"One person will determine whether the Light or Dark Prognoticus predicts truly… Both books refer to him as the 'dark one', but I know not what this means… I must return to my study to solve this conundrum." Merlon finished before going down the elevator.
"The 'dark one'? Hmmmmmmm… Now who could THAT be?" Chopper pondered before being dragged down the elevator by Kirby.
"Poyo… (So, where do we go from here?)" Kirby asked.
"Well, I think we ought to go down to where we were before. I mean, down to the first floor outskirts, that is." Chopper suggested.
First floor outskirts-
"All right, we never got to see what was ahead," Chopper noticed at the end of the area a pipe with two Brick Blocks in the way. "Oh, this is going to be easy! Hommissile can take care of this for sure!"
Chopper fired Hommissile straight at the Brick Blocks, destroying them and allowing them to go down a bit deeper into the outskirts. Tippi could feel the presence of a Pure Heart around here.
"Chopper… I can feel a Heart Pillar coming from the wall ahead…" Tippi fluttered over to the wall. "I think you're going to need to flip to find a way through here…"
"Well, then I shall!" Chopper jumped over a red block and a pipe to make his way to the wall. Flipping into 3-D, he saw a little slot that he could fit through. Using Slim's ability, he slipped through and made his way to the Heart Pillar.
"Here we go! Now to put the Pure Heart where it belongs!" Chopper smiled as he brought out the yellow Pure Heart, which made its way into the Heart Pillar and created a yellow, ticking clock.
"Poyo… (I wonder what's going to happen..)" Kirby pondered from the other side of the wall.
Up at Flipside Tower, a yellow door was drawn and created right beside the orange door.
"Well, we ought to see what happened up there," Chopper suggested.
"Poyo? (Wait, maybe we should prepare ourselves?)" Kirby suggested.
"Oh, right... We should do that. Maybe we can get some healing items through Saffron!"
They had gone to Saffron's place and tried to get her to make something. With a Shroom Shake, they managed to get a Fried Shroom Plate. Chopper tried to get her to cook up something through a Sleepy Sheep as well, but unfortunately, that didn't turn out well. It had turned into a Mistake.
However, he decided not to let it bother him, and he brought the Return Pipe out, allowing him and Kirby to return to Flipside Tower. There, they saw Meta Knight walk out of the red door.
"Meta Knight!" Chopper made a dash over to him. "How was your trip through Lineland Road?"
"Terrible. I couldn't find Galaxia anywhere." Meta Knight replied. "I was forced to do something for an old man, though…and a wizard. But that's not the point. I can't give up my search so soon."
Meta Knight looked over at the orange door. "I'll check through there next, then I'll go check through the yellow. Rest assured, Chopper… I'll be fine."
"Wait! Don't go in…" Meta Knight already walked through the door. "…That'll lead to Merlee's Mansion! …And that place is BAD!"
"Poyo… (We don't have much of a choice… We might as well leave him…)" Kirby suggested.
"Ugh… Well, I guess so. Let's head through this yellow door." Chopper opened the yellow door and he and Kirby made their way through. Hopefully this world wouldn't be as painful as the other.
Chopper and his new friends opened the door, unsure of what they would find. All the while, Merlee's words about finding the "other two or four heroes" rang in their minds. Were these other heroes somewhere in this new world? If not, where? Meanwhile, the creeping void grew larger in the skies above Flipside. The hopes of all worlds rested on the heroes finding the next Pure Heart…